1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reading focus card to facilitate reading lines of text for persons of all reading ability and age levels.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A broad population of people of all ages have trouble reading because they cannot focus on a block of text. Readers who have difficulty isolating individual blocks of text in a book, magazine or printed sheet may also have trouble eye-tracking in a steady, left to right motion. Unfortunately with children, attention is often centered on differentiating between causes and types of reading problems, e.g., dyslexia, attention deficit disorder (ADA) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and treating the child or adolescent with medications, the long term effects of which are not entirely known. Yet the fact is that people with a reading disability may compensate and learn to read well without the need for medical treatment. For some people, an accommodation such as a line-marker card, transparent overlay or “reading ruler” with a colored window help this process.
The above-mentioned accommodations (i.e., line-markercards, overlays and reading rulers) help a reader isolate a block of text but they do not promote left to right eye-tracking motion. What is needed is an accommodation that does both and is inexpensive to manufacture such that it can be provided to a user on a trial basis. The addition of color to the isolated block or line of text would also be desirable, but different people are stimulated by different colors or by different colors at different times. It would therefore be desirable if the accommodation permitted a user to experiment with different colors to discover what is best for him or her.
Such an accommodation would be particularly useful with children who as yet are undiagnosed with a reading disorder but who are experiencing difficulty reading. If the accommodation “works” for the user, the time and expense in appointment scheduling, testing and evaluation, by either private or special school district personnel may be avoided, as well as the stigma of being diagnosed with a disability and treatment with drugs. If the accommodation “works,” another person is not required for reading success and the accommodation can be used independently by the reader to help build confidence and self-esteem. If the accommodation does not “work” for the user, little is lost.